AUTHOR'S NOTE: Here is a chapter specifically dedicated to Cloud and Tifa. Tifa was so mad at me for leaving her out of the last chapter, she threatened to kick my ass. So I decided to do this chapter. I was initially planning to use this chapter for the New Year's party, but I was doing the scene for the introduction and I just had a burst of inspiration. I couldn't put a wild teenagers party in the same chapter as this, I just couldn't. You'll find out why in a few! Just by the way, I feel bad for not replying to all the guest reviews, like how I do with other reviewers, so I'll try and answer them in the next chapters note

"Well, its December 30," Tifa said as she relaxed on the couch.

Cloud looked away from the TV screen. "Yeah, so?"

"So...tomorrow's New Year's Eve," Tifa replied stretching on the sofa like a cat.

The two of them sat in her house, just relaxing after their return from Nibelheim. Now that he was much better acquainted with Mr Lockheart, Cloud didn't feel as uncomfortable in the house, although truth be told, the circumstances of their first meeting had been less than comfortable.

"And...your point is?" Cloud asked, purposely baiting her.

Tifa, though, being Tifa, did not fall for it. "If you're gonna act like an idiot then I'm gonna treat you like an idiot. N-E-W Y-E-A-R-S E-V-E. Got it? Its a night when most NORMAL people get together and celebrate a new beginning and the end to the previous year-"

"Okay jeez!" Cloud cut in. "I get it! I get it!"

Tifa smirked. "Learnt your lesson?"

"Yeah, yeah," Cloud mumbled.

"And that lesson is," Tifa pressed.

"That New Year's Eve is a day to celebrate the end of the previous year and look forward to the new one?" Cloud just couldn't resist.

"Now I'm gonna fuck you up!" Tifa yelled, pouncing to her feet, but Cloud was ready, and whizzed away, with Tifa bounding after him.

"You'll never catch me, my legs are much longer!" Cloud goaded as he tore up the stairs.

"Now you've gone and done it, you prick!" Tifa snarled.

Scarcely five minutes later, Cloud was pinned to the floor on his stomach, his hand behind his back with Tifa sitting on top of him with a manic smile of triumph on her face.

"Apologize," she commanded sweetly.

"No!" Cloud tried, but his reply was cut off with a sharp yell, as Tifa twisted his arm.

"Let's try that again, shall we?" Tifa said, with the air of a grade school teacher, patiently explaining time-tables. "Now repeat after me. I'm sorry Tifa, I will never attempt to act like a douche bag in front of you ever again."

"Will you get your fat ass off me if I do," Cloud grumbled.

"Now Cloud, my 'fat ass' just beat your skinny one down. So unless you want news of your total defeat to start doing the rounds, I'd suggest you try not to piss me off," Tifa replied, still in that maddeningly patient tone.

Cloud let out a low growl.

"And save those animalistic sounds for the bedroom. That sort of thing might turn Jessie on, but it doesn't impress me!"

The mention of his girlfriend and her words, had a profound effect on Cloud. His body went limp and he ceased to struggle.

"Cloud, you okay?" Tifa asked. Cloud momentarily thought of using her moment of kindness to break loose, but figured she would simply pin him again so decided to just play along.

"Fine. I'm sorry Tifa, I will never attempt to act like a douche bag in front of you ever again," he said. "Good?" He asked over his shoulder.

"And I swear to God, Tifa that you are the sexiest, most amazing being to ever walk this Planet!"

That wasn't part of the deal!" Cloud protested.

"Oh well, it was worth a shot," Tifa said as she released him.

They sat in her room now, on the carpeted floor. Resting against the bed, breathing slightly heavy from their run.

Cloud looked around Tifa's room for the first time. It was large and spacious, with the walls painted a bright crimson, with black and white furniture.

"Wow, I've never seen your room before," Cloud said.

Tifa flicked some stray hair out of her face. "Well its no big deal," she said, but Cloud had been distracted.

He had spied a shelf filled with books in one corner of the room. Without thinking, he got up and made his way to the shelf.

"I had no idea you read," Cloud said in awe.

"Well, I do have other interests Cloud," Tifa replied.

He scanned the shelves. "'Catcher in the Rye'?" He said in awe. "'Catch 22'? 'The Divine Comedy'? 'Journey To the End of The Nigh't? Tifa, these are some of my favourites!" He said looking at her with a smile.

Tifa returned his smile. "Mine too. Did you like 'The Bluest Eye'?"

"I loved it! And there are plays here too! Oh my god! 'Waiting for Godot'! That's got to be one of my all time favourites! And 'Cat On A Tin Roof'!" Cloud had run out of words. "I can't explain to you just how amazing this is!"

"How so?" Tifa asked, though her eyes were shining.

"Tifa, I never thought that anyone my age liked reading, especially this sort of stuff," Cloud replied. "It seems like I'm not so alone anymore."

Tifa laughed, but she was not mocking him, quite the contrary. "Y'know," she said walking towards the window and staring out of it. "When I was younger, and my mom died. There were days when I would get so sad, I didn't know what to do. I'd cry in my pillow and smash things, but then I picked up a book and within moments, all those feelings would disappear. I'd be in a whole new world, lost in the adventures of other people. I guess maybe, it made things easier for me."

"I know what you mean, Tifa," Cloud said, shyly looking in her eyes.

Tifa returned the look, to Cloud's surprise, she looked pretty shy as well. It was like looking at a completely different person. He had to wonder if, even for just a moment, he had glimpsed the REAL Tifa Lockheart, the woman underneath all the layers of party animal.

"So, anything else you see that you like over there?" Tifa said, to cover up the moment.

Cloud reluctantly turned back to the shelf behind him. "You like Shakespeare as well, I see," he said, scanning it.

"Yup, everything! His poetry, his plays, I love it all!" Tifa said enthusiatically.

"What's your favourite?" Cloud asked.

"I really enjoyed 'Midsummer Night's Dream'," Tifa replied. "And, even though it was a lot sadder and tragic, 'Othello' was amazing as well!"

"Yeah! I got to admit, I was taken by surprise when he murdered Desdemona!" Cloud added.

"He's a genius," Tifa said with a nod. "The way Iago plotted and schemed and anticipated everyone's actions was so precise and accurate."

"And don't forget how well he showed Iago's frame of mind and motivations and how he was able to prey on Othello's weakness," Cloud said. "It really makes you think about our own daily lives."

"It does," Tifa agreed. "How society's views affect everyone, no matter how well we try to hide it!"

"And how foolish we can be, and how deep our insecurities run and make us do horrible, and unthinkable deeds," Cloud was enjoying this discussion, finally able to find someone who understood this.

"And betray the ones who love and trust us the most, all the while, the ones we do trust end up stabbing us in the back."

"He really got humans didn't he," Cloud said, at how they were finishing each other's sentences. "What about his poetry?"

"My Mistresses eyes are nothing like the sun," Tifa said in answer.

"Coral is far more red, then her lip's red. If snow be white; why then are her breasts dun; if hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head," Cloud recited.

"I have seen roses demasked, red and white, but no such roses see I in her cheeks; and in some perfumes is there more delight Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks," Tifa continued.

"I love to hear her speak, yet well I know That music hath a far more pleasing sound; I grant I never saw a goddess go; My mistress when she walks treads on the ground. And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare As any she belied with false compare," Cloud smiled as they finished together.

Tifa smiled back at him. "Just goes to show! Appearance versus Reality."

"And the grass is always greener on the other side, huh?" Cloud answered.

"Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?"

"Let's not go there," Cloud said with a laugh, Tifa's own laughter joined in.

"Okay, let's do another then" Tifa suggested.

"Alright, uhm," Cloud hesitated a second, then burst into a smile. "You may write me down in history;With your bitter, twisted lies,You may trod me in the very dirt;But still, like dust, I'll rise."

Tifa joined in.

"Does my sassiness upset you?

Why are you beset with gloom?

'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells

Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,

With the certainty of tides,

Just like hopes springing high,

Still I'll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?

Bowed head and lowered eyes?

Shoulders falling down like teardrops.

Weakened by my soulful cries.

Does my haughtiness offend you?

Don't you take it awful hard

'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines

Diggin' in my own back yard.

You may shoot me with your words,

You may cut me with your eyes,

You may kill me with your hatefulness,

But still, like air, I'll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?

Does it come as a surprise

That I dance like I've got diamonds

At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history's shame

I rise

Up from a past that's rooted in pain

I rise

I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,

Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.

Leaving behind nights of terror and fear

I rise

Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear

I rise

Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,

I am the dream and the hope of the slave.

I rise

I rise

I rise."

"Wow, your familiar with Maya Angelou as well," Tifa said, as soon as they had finished.

"I know 'An Irish Airman' as well," Cloud said.

"I think that's enough poetry for today," Tifa said with a laugh. "And you know all this deep stuff is getting me down, there's gotta be something else on that shelf to lighten the mood!"

"Well, let's have a look," Cloud said. "Heroic fantasy? Damn, Tifa you sure are full of surprises!"

"And you say it like its a bad thing," Tifa teased. "I got the entire 'Legend of Drizzt' by Salvatore on there, and Feist's entire collection as well!"

"Drizzt is probably my favourite hero of all time!" Cloud said.

"Have a seat," Tifa said, sitting on the bed.

Cloud did so. "What were the names of his scimitars again?"

"Twinkle and Icingdeath," Tifa replied. "Twinkle was given to him by the old man, and Wulfgar found Icingdeath when they defeated the dragon of the same name!"

"Yeah, and he used Icingdeath to destroy Errtu, even though they needed to summon him again! But I was so sure Crenshinibon was destroyed after Cadderly, Jar'laxel and Entreri got the red dragon to destroy it, only for it to make a dragon lich out of it!" Cloud said enthusiatically.

"I want to have a rematch between Entreri and Danica though," Tifa said

They must have sat there for hours, discussing the many adventures of Drizzt Do'Urden. His triumphs; destroying the dragon, finding the lost home of Clan Battlehammer. His failures; losing Elefaine, being unable to prevent the death of his love Catti-brie.

Soon the conversation moved on to Pug and his adventures with Tomas and Arutha.

It was amazing, two souls thinking they were alone in appreciating these things, only to find each other.

XXX

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Just a quick apology for how atrociously short this chapter is. Now for a few notes on the chapter. I felt that Cloud and Tifa needed more in common than a penchant for partying. So then while writing this chapter, it occured to me to have them both like reading. I felt that they really CONNECTED through a love of literature. I guess it was cheesy and not at the same time. I mean poetry in love stories is one thing, but reciting well-known works is different as well. I felt without something as concrete as this to pull them together, their relationship feels sort of frivolous and unreal, now I feel they have a solid basis. Now every review since the Christmas chapter has mentioned Jessie and what to do with her, but I've been putting it off so bad, it feels like MY break-up that I'm dealing with lol. I'm working on it, just bear with me, it needs the right time and place! On a side note, I'm amazed at how this fic is turning itself around. From a typical fraternity-based fic about college, booze and weed, all of a sudden we got Maya Angelou? Lol okay I'm gonna stop there as it looks like my AN is danger of being longer than the chapter! So, as always please review!